The magpie effect. (Illustrative image: Unsplash) 
Take a look at your feed right now – LinkedIn, Instagram, X, Facebook, even WhatsApp. It is probably spattered (or awash) with AI content. Some of it is humorous, some of it so creative that it defies imagination, and much of it makes us sit back in awe. We double-take at its faux realism, we marvel at its speed, and we share it with colleagues or friends. Yet many of us are deeply concerned too; what it is doing to the internet, news, social media and our curated algorithm. It’s a love-hate thing for many, a love-love thing for AI advocates, and hate-hate for the anti-artificial movement.
I say this not as a casual observer but as the chief AI strategy officer and co-founder of an AI marketing agency: we have employed more than 40 AI marketing tools across campaigns, strategy and training. Some have been transformative, a few have fallen short of their promise.
That experience has taught us two things: AI is phenomenal technology with breathtaking potential, and it does not guarantee business results unless you have an expert shaping the inputs and discerning the outputs. Without that, the shine often exceeds the substance.
Which is why the C-suite must be more sceptical. Leaders need to interrogate what is being integrated inside their organisations and ask whether it truly serves strategy, or whether it is theatre. At the AI Summit in Amsterdam this was the echo I heard from European C-Suite types who had their fingers burned already.
The magpie effect
Shiny objects grab attention, and right now, AI-generated content is bouncing its sparkle into every corner of our lives. Too often, decision makers, as well as their marketing teams, mistake spectacle for strategy.
Nano Banana – the name itself reveals the war of attention between artificial intelligence competitors right now – is causing quite the stir in AI image editing and generation. And Google will flip from old-school search to AI mode shortly, switched on in 180 countries.
However, we need to hold on to one fact that will not be transient: the purpose of powerful communication and marketing remains. It is to move people to act, to foster loyalty, to learn something new, or to deepen their relationship with a community, an idea or a brand. If AI dazzles but does not drive those outcomes, it is not delivering.
What will not change, however, is the underlying purpose. In journalism, as in other fields of communication, that purpose is to move people – to engage their curiosity, to inform them, to challenge assumptions or to strengthen their trust in a publication or community. If AI dazzles with novelty but fails to foster those deeper connections or actions, then it is not truly delivering.
This is where critical thinking minds matter.
The most valuable people in the room are not those who can make AI spit out the flashiest meme, but the cynical strategists who refuse to be fooled by novelty. They ask the hard questions about whether actions taken are driving revenue and they hold outputs against outcomes. Without them, companies risk chasing gimmicks instead of growth.
Business leaders must share this discipline. CEOs should ask whether AI initiatives truly advance strategic objectives, or whether they are little more than stagecraft. CFOs should interrogate whether the tools being paraded are made of white gold or fool’s gold. CMOs must question whether, in their urgency to “do something with AI”, they have been sold a dummy that wows the boardroom but fails in the market.
AI is everywhere, and often nowhere
AI is already embedded in much of what brands do. From chatbots to campaign copy to ad targeting, it has become part of the plumbing. Which means it is not that special anymore, and in many cases not gasp-worthy in its differentiation.
The mastery now lies in how it is used, and, I would argue, who is driving it, all the way through from plan to implementation. Results depend on shaping inputs so sharp, so insightful and so aligned to brand and audience that the outputs exceed expectations.
The best campaigns will look human, seamless and world class. Perhaps AI played a role, perhaps not.
Over the next year or two we will see some big brands that lead the market stumble. Some will fall short because they transformed to AI-centricity. Customers notice when campaigns, social posts or emails feel automated, generic or hollow, and they will push back.
The initial wonder of AI will become more cynical than now, and a more sensitive, allergic backlash will emerge.
New platforms are flooding the market, good at selling themselves but less effective at delivering results. Rest assured, we will see many AI tools drown. Brands that built their strategies around hype tools will be left exposed.
This cycle is not new. Every technology wave has seen tools rise and fall. But the stakes are higher this time because the speed and scale of AI adoption mean mistakes will be bigger, faster and more visible.
Where leaders stand out
CEOs who are enamoured with the magic wand of LLMs like GPT, Co-Pilot or Claude must discern between the efficiencies it gives them or their staff in these early days and the wider AI business tools that require more careful “plumbing”. We hear mandates pushed into the business because the CEO or CFO “loves ChatGPT”.
AI is the fastest-moving tech in history.
It’s delivering life-changing results to the smartest decision makers who have experts who interrogate every tool, every output and every campaign against the hard yardsticks of commercial objectives: revenue, awareness, lead generation and loyalty.
My primary focus these days is to master the inputs, and discern if the outputs are world class, and to use AI in ways that are invisible to the customer yet measurable on the balance sheet.
The winners of this next chapter will be those who do their due diligence on their artificial partners and select partners who inspect and challenge the magnificent silver placed in front of them. Those who ignore this warning may well end up with a nest full of junk. DM
Dean McCoubrey is co-founder of Humaine and chief AI strategy officer.